The Answer Sheet: arizona


Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 01/12/2011

How to talk to kids about violence
By Valerie Strauss
High-profile acts of violence can scare and confuse children. Here is advice on how to talk with them about the Arizona shooting rampage.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 01/12/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Parents | Tags:  arizona shooting, gabby giffords, gabrielle giffords, jared lee loughner, loughner, school psychologists, talking to kids about violence, tucson shootings

Posted at 06:31 PM ET, 01/10/2011

Duncan: Arizona community college did what it could with suspect
By Valerie Strauss
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said today that the community college that forced out the suspect in the Arizona shooting rampage because he was disruptive did what it could in handling the young man, and he asked how the young man was able to get a gun.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:31 PM ET, 01/10/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Education Secretary Duncan | Tags:  arizona community college, arizona shootings, gabby giffords, gabrielle giffords, giffords, jared lee loughner, loughner, pima community college, shooting suspect, the washington post

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 01/10/2011

Latino studies program in Tucson declared illegal
By Valerie Strauss
An Arizona official has declared that an ethnic studies program on Latino culture is illegal under a new law that went effect on Jan. 1.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 01/10/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  History | Tags:  arizona schools, ethnic studies program, ethnic studies program declared illegal, latino studies, mexican-american studies program, tom horne, tucson schools

Posted at 02:51 PM ET, 07/08/2010

Studies question Arizona’s policy on English learners
By Valerie Strauss
Nine new studies released today show how poorly English learners are faring in Arizona.

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:51 PM ET, 07/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  English language learners, English language learners | Tags:  arizona and english language learners, arizona education policies, civil rights project at ucla, civil rights projects, new studies on arizona

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 06/29/2010

New analysis of achievement gap: ½ x ½ = 1½
By Valerie Strauss
David Berliner, a prominent education researcher, writes about new data and analysis showing that when it comes to student achievement, family resources are important, school resources are important and the joint effect of the social and fiscal resources found in families and schools appears to be much greater than either alone.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 06/29/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  arizona state university, coleman report, coleman report and 1960s, david berliner, educational research, effects on student achievement, how much does school affect student achievement?, parental influence and student achievement, standard deviations

Posted at 11:00 AM ET, 06/08/2010

Teachers council blasts Arizona policy on accents
By Valerie Strauss
The National Council of Teachers of English has finally issued a condemnation of a policy in Arizona in which teachers who speak English with a heavy accent or exhibit poor grammar are being removed from classes for students still learning English.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:00 AM ET, 06/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Teachers | Tags:  arizona, arizona audits teachers with accents, arizona teachers, ell learners in arizona, english language learners in arizona, national council of teachers of english, teachers, teachers with accents

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 05/27/2010

How Arizona is checking teachers’ accents
By Valerie Strauss
More than 1,500 teachers in Arizona have already been evaluated to see if they can speak English fluently, and some have been found to have problems, a Department of Education official said.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:30 AM ET, 05/27/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Learning | Tags:  arizona and teachers, arizona and teachers with accents, arizona monitors teachers with accents, arizona schools, arizona teachers, teachers and accents, teachers and accents and arizona

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 05/25/2010

Concern over accented teachers not original to Arizona
By Valerie Strauss
The state of Arizona has gotten a lot of attention lately for its decision to remove teachers who speak with pronounced foreign accent and/or whose speech is ungrammatical from classrooms with students learning to speak English. But the idea wasn’t original to the Arizona Board of Education.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 05/25/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Learning | Tags:  arizona and accents, arizona remove teachers with accents, foreign accents and teachers, research on teachers with accents, teachers with accents

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 05/18/2010

Protesters call IB program un-American. Is it?
By Valerie Strauss
How American history is taught is clearly on the minds of protesters in Idaho who trying to get the International Baccalaurate program tossed out of schools because, they say, it is, anti-American, and of Arizona legislators who passed a law restricting ethnic studies.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 05/18/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  AP,IB,honors, AP,IB,honors | Tags:  IB protesters, arizona ethnic studies, arizona law and immigrants, ethnic studies law, history, international baccalaureate, law restricting ethnic studies

Posted at 11:17 AM ET, 05/12/2010

In Arizona, bad ethnic studies bill becomes law
By Valerie Strauss
If you think that Arizona state government officials would have something better to do with their time than to go after an ethic studies program that they don’t like, you’d be wrong. The governor signed a bad bill into law today, proving that some adults can't seem to learn from their own mistakes.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:17 AM ET, 05/12/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Teachers, Teachers | Tags:  arizona governor signs bill, arizona law, brewer signs bill, ethnics studies and arizona, ethnics studies program and arizona, tuscon ethnics studies

Posted at 05:08 PM ET, 05/05/2010

Accented teachers may be better for English language learners: study
By Valerie Strauss
Arizona may be making a mistake by trying to remove heavily accented Hispanic teachers from classrooms filled with Hispanic English-language learners. A new study on how well students learn second languages from teachers with accents suggests that tudents can learn a second language better from a teacher who speaks in the same accent as the student.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:08 PM ET, 05/05/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Learning, Learning, Learning | Tags:  Arizona, Arizona and accented teachers, Arizona and teachers, Arizona orders teachers with accents out of class, Arizona schools, English language learners, accented teachers, how accents affect learning, language research, research, research on accents, research study on accents, teachers with accents, the answer sheet and arizona

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 05/04/2010

Arizona strikes again: Now it is ethnic studies
By Valerie Strauss
First Arizona passed a law requiring police to question anybody who looks like an illegal immigrant. Then we learn that the state order school districts to get rid of teachers with very heavy accents. Then the legislature approved a bill targeted at a Mexican-American studies program that the state education chief doesn't like. Arizona doesn't know when to quit.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 05/04/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  History | Tags:  Arizona and heavily accented teachers, Arizona and law, Arizona immigrant law, Mexican-american studies, ethnic studies in Arizona, heavily accented teachers, history

Posted at 08:00 AM ET, 05/02/2010

Heavily accented teachers removed from Arizona classrooms
By Valerie Strauss
School districts in Arizona are under orders from the state's Department of Education to remove from classrooms teachers who speak English with a very heavy accent or whose speech is ungrammatical.

By Valerie Strauss  |  08:00 AM ET, 05/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Teachers | Tags:  accented teachers being removed in arizona, arizona and immigrants, arizona and teachers, arizona immigration law, teachers